Marine Corps MV-22 Osprey commander relieved

The Marine Corps' MV-22 troubled tilt-rotor aircraft program
again came under fire Thursday, this time from allegations that a
training squadron commander ordered Marines to falsify maintenance
records.

The officer relieved of duty Thursday, Lt. Col. Odin F.
Leberman, has commanded the Osprey squadron since it was created in
June 1999. Senior defense officials said he had been accused of
ordering squadron members to falsify records -- including details
such as the number of hours the aircraft had actually flown -- to
help the Marine Corps win approval for full-scale production of the
aircraft.

A separate criminal investigation also is under way, a Pentagon
source said Thursday. That review by the Naval Criminal
Investigative Service would recommend to 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing
officials whether anyone should face punishment charges under the
military laws covered by the Uniformed Code of Military
Justice.

A Marine spokesman said the Corps' East Coast wing commander,
Maj. Gen. Dennis Krupp, ordered that Leberman be dismissed as the
commander of the Marine Tilt-Rotor Training Squadron-204 based at
New River Marine Corps Air Station, N.C.

The Boeing-Bell Textron-built Osprey is an experimental troop
transport that can take off and land like a helicopter but cruises
like an airplane.

Marine Corps officials said they were alerted Jan. 12 "when they
received a copy of an anonymous letter and audiotape that was
mailed" to the Secretary of the Navy's office in the Pentagon,
according to the Department of Defense statement.

The Marine Corps' inspector general, Brig. Gen. Timothy
Ghormley, arrived at New River on Thursday with seven other
investigators and initially spoke to squadron members in two
groups, said Maj. Patrick Gibbons, a Marine spokesman.

Ghormley has "broad authority to conduct the investigation as he
sees fit." The team includes a naval criminal investigator, Gibbons
said.

The training squadron has not been flying the MV-22 since the
controversial aircraft was grounded last month following a fatal
Dec. 11 crash.

Leberman's fate was unclear. In most cases, a unit commander who
is fired is ordered temporarily to a desk job at a higher command
until any investigations are completed. Col. Richard H. Dunnivan
has been put in command of the squadron, Gibbons said.

The latest controversy comes at a time when the MV-22 program is
under strong scrutiny from inside and outside the Pentagon.

The Marine Corps wants to buy 360 of the innovative aircraft to
replace its aging fleet of CH-46E and CH-53D medium-lift
helicopters.

Officials are studying locations in Southern California and
Arizona -- including Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Base and Miramar
Marine Corps Air Station -- to base seven to nine squadrons of the
Osprey aircraft. The Air Force wants to buy 50 of a
special-operation variant of the craft.

Marine officials said Thursday that they are confident that
there "appears to be no relation" between the allegations about
falsified documents and the two fatal crashes last year that killed
23 Marines, including 15 based at Camp Pendleton and Miramar in
April in Arizona.